My impressions of 2010 collection

gaab

New member
First and foremost - thanks to everyone that helped me with my many questions before my Irvine visit.  It was quite informative and served to give me some background before the visit. :D

My family loves Irvine, we drove from Torrance to Temecula in search of a nice area and although we have friends in Temecula and the prices are right - its too far away.    Other areas, while nice, don't seem to have the same level of packaging or new projects.  They also don't have the same level of Japanese infrastructure (language schools, pre-schools, etc).  Torrance also has excellent Japanese infrastructure but its 2 hours from our friends so that may not work.  Irvine to Temecula is an hour drive and a relatively easy drive during off hours so its more palatable.

In terms of the 2010 collection - we are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home so we visited Carmel, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Coronado and La Casella.  Tried to visit Montecito but the sales office was closed the 2 times we tried.

While there we decided to keep our home in Japan for a little while after moving so our price range was reduced to about 750K as I still want to put down a significant down payment.  This limits us to Coronado, Santa Cruz and La Casella both of which we really liked.

We also decided that we really liked the Great Room concept, this is a switch from our earlier opinion.  Switch is mainly due to the amounts of storage in the kitchens.  Kitchens in Japan don't have that much storage so there tends to be a fair amount of clutter that you don't want guests to see however the US kitchens seem to have a lot more storage enabling the concept to work for us.

Brief impressions of the models:

Carmel - very well done, seems expensive for the size home that is provided and the options to make the home larger are even more expensive.  I was quoted 85K for the master bedroom on the 2nd floor, 30K for the conservatory, etc.  Our favorite feature seems to be the very heavy front doors.  It just gives a feeling of luxury.  Downside for us was the sales staff, polite, but far too formal for my liking.

Coronado - again seems well done.  I like that it didn't have a fireplace.  On the smaller side as its not even 2000 sq. feet.  so it may not work for us.

Montecito - only viewed the outside of the model, seems well done.  Plan 3 would be the right size for us.  But I would choose Sonoma over Montecito.

Sonoma - Plan 3 was our favorite. 

La Casella - Plan 3 was again our favorite, really liked the upstairs retreat and the 2 master bedrooms.  Also seems very well priced for the space provided -  I think it has the honor of being the cheapest per square foot.  Our only concern is privacy of the patio space.  I'm not sure how open it will be when actually implemented.  Staff was very friendly and welcoming.

Santa Rosa - Nicely done.  Too bad its too small for us as it seemed very livable.

Santa Cruz - Plan 3 is our choice as it has the 3-bedrooms on the 2nd floor and a 1st floor office / 4th bedroom.  I like that there is a wall for an entertainment unit so the TV doesn't have to go above the fireplace.

In all cases - I preferred the open California room over the conservatory.  The backyard just seems too small with the room enclosed.

We did drive by a few of the older homes for sale in the area but I don't want to deal with re-modeling and taking care of an older home.  Too bad because our favorite area in Irvine is near the Marketplace.

Next step for us is to decide the timing of the move, finalize our model choice and complete the priority registration /mortgage  pre-approval.


 
Hey gaab... so you finally made it down... what day/time did you try to visit Montecito when they were closed? It may have been early on a weekday since each builder tends to have sales meeting one day a week (usually Mon or Wed).

If I'm reading you right, and $750k is your price range, that also puts you in striking distance of Montecito Plan 2. If you really need to buy brand new in Irvine, and are still here... you should check out every plan possible to give you the most information to decide. If you liked Santa Cruz Plan 3, then Montecito may be a good fit.

Good luck and keep us updated on your journey... and remember... any of the new builds in phases they are selling now won't be ready until the fall so take that into consideration.
 
Thank you jumpcut and irvinehomeowner. 

I'm back in Tokyo.  Our visit to Irvine was from March 24th - April 1st - during the "Spring Break" for the Japan schools.  Quite the trip - but it served its purpose as the entire family was able to get a picture of what living in So Cal would be like.

For the collection - after seeing the pics online and hearing about the impressions from others on TI - I really wanted to visit Montecito in person so we made 2 attempts, the first instance we visited the sales center at 6:30 in the evening (closed) and the 2nd was on the final Wednesday. Wednesday, it turns outs, the sales office was closed.  Seems that each builder has different days off and different hours.  La Casella for example, was the only office open till 7:00 in the evening.  Guess I'm too used to Japan as nearly every real estate agency closes on the same day - Mondays.

On the timing - my son is in elementary school so I want to match the move up with the school years.  That would mean the timing of the move would be either 2010 summer or 2011 summer. 

From speaking with the sales reps at Santa Cruz it sounds like they are expecting to be there until April 2011(ish) timeframe - at that point they would close the sales office, build the final house and sell the models. 

The other companies weren't as open on the timing - most preferred to tout the rapid sales from January - March.  I can't recall which project it was, but, they were about to release phase 11 - I was fairly impressed with the pace.

More later.  This is definitely evolving as the home of choice at the moment from my wife and son seems to be Santa Cruz.
 
gaab, that's great!  I think you will enjoy Irvine-living.  But I want to reiterate what IHO said -- if you enjoyed Santa Cruz plan 3, I think you will enjoy Montecito Plan 1 even more.  The square-footage is a bit smaller at Montecito (plan 3 Santa Cruz being 2283 sqft and plan 1 Montecito being 2156 sqft) and there is a price difference (I'm not sure what Santa Cruz is selling at right now, but Montecito is selling plan 1 around $746K -- Santa Cruz is cheaper), but at Montecito, you get a larger yard, you get a full driveway, and it's a SFR, instead of a Detached Condo.  The floorplan is pretty much the same, with a den downstairs.  I really did wish you were able to see Montecito....

Anyways, best of luck to you and your family on your new home purchase.
 
Also, It is easier for kids to walk to the elementary school from Montecito than Santa Cruz. They don't need to
cross the busy Shady Canyon street.  That is one reason we prefer woodbury over woodbury east.
 
On the timing - my son is in elementary school so I want to match the move up with the school years.  That would mean the timing of the move would be either 2010 summer or 2011 summer. 

Hey gaab, keep in mind that Woodbury Elementary is a year-round school and the school year starts in late July. 
 
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